With the increased mobility of today's society, it's becoming less and less common for people to know those who live around them. People just don't stay in the same place very long any more.

In Hoover, 22 percent of people surveyed by the U.S. Census Bureau between 2006 and 2008 had lived in their house or apartment for less than a year. A surprising 63 percent had moved there since 2000.

A survey conducted by Hoover City Schools several years back indicated most seventh-graders had changed residences six or more times. That doesn't leave a lot of time to estab­lish roots or make friends.

So many people get up in the morning, rush to work and then hurry home to get to a myriad of activities for their children or grandchil­dren before finally landing back at home to go to bed and start all over again.

Some people rarely place their feet on the ground out­side their homes, using re­mote- control garage door openers to usher themselves in and out of the house, where they have all the lat­est gadgets to occupy their time. Not even a breath of fresh air. If they hire some­one to do yard work, they won't get the chance to chat with a neighbor when they cut their grass or rake leaves.

So who is your neighbor?

The Census Bureau's American Community Sur­vey, conducted between 2006 and 2008, gives a snap­shot of Hoover. Of the esti­mated 75,500 residents then, 51 percent were fe­male and 49 percent were male. The median age was 37.8 years, up from 36.2 in 2000. Twenty-five percent of Hoover residents were un­der age 18, and 11 percent were 65 or older.

Eighty percent were white, compared to 87.7 percent in 2000. The black population climbed from 6.8 percent to 13 percent in the same time, while Asians rose from 2.9 percent to 5 percent. Hispanics, who can be of any race, jumped from 3.8 percent to 5.7 percent.

Of the 30,185 households in Hoover, 56 percent were families with a married cou­ple, 14 percent were other family formations and 26 percent were living alone.

Forty-four percent of Hoover residents were born outside Alabama, including 9 percent (about 6,400 peo­ple) who were born outside the United States. About 11 percent of Hoover residents spoke a language other than English at home. Of those, 43 percent spoke Spanish.

Those are the stats for the population as a whole. But I ask again -- do you know your neighbor? Do you share in their joys, such as when their child graduates from high school or gets married? And in their sor­row, in the death of a pa­rent? Do you know their hobbies? Hopes? Dreams?

I'm not saying to be a nosy neighbor. Nobody likes that, but we all probably could do better at reaching out to our neighbors and showing some care.